Music is said to soothe the soul of the most savage beast. This holds true particularly for Talat Mehmood's songs.
Talat's soft, dulcet voice holds reservoirs of serenity and depth. This master of the art of understatement was confident enough to never raise his voice and yet weave a web of sonic entrancement. 
Though Talat sang all kinds of songs when he was a busy playback artiste in the 1950s, most of his repertoire consists of sad songs, especially ghazals. The singer's range is encompassed within 1953's Zindagi dene wale sun teri duniya se jee bhar gaya to resonant emotion 10 years later in the 1963 song Dekh li teri khudai bas mera dil bhar gaya.
But as Talat sang, Hai sabse madhur woh geet jinhe hum dard ke sur mein gaate hai.
Fortunately, he had to face few upheavals in his life. A musical prodigy, the 1924-born Talat learnt music in his native Lucknow and started getting offers to sing professionally while still in his teens. Young Talat sang on the radio, cut private songs like the successful Tasveer teri mere dil ko and in the mid-1940s moved to Kolkata to try his luck as a singer while enacting supporting roles in films like Rajlaxmi and Samapti.
In 1949, Talat shifted to Mumbai and started accepting playback singing assignments for Swayamsiddha and Raakhee. The dawn of the 1950s saw the birth of a new star when Ae dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal from the Dilip Kumar-Kamini Kaushal starrer Arzoo (1950) won Talat widespread appreciation for his inspired rendition. Arzoo's
| Talat Mehmood's famous solos | ||
| Year | Song | Film (picturised on) |
| 1950 | Aye dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal | Arzoo (Dilip Kumar) |
| 1950 | Mera jeevan saathi | Babul (Dililp Kumar) |
| 1952 | Main dil hoon ek armaan bhara | Anhonee(Raj Kapoor) |
| 1952 | Aye mere dil kahin aur chal | Daag (Dilip Kumar) |
| 1952 | Yeh hawa, yeh raat, yeh chandni | Sangdil (Dilip Kumar) |
| 1953 | Zindagi dene wale sun | Dil-e-Nadaan (Talat Mehmood) |
| 1953 | Shaam-e-gham ki kasam | Footpath (Dilip Kumar) |
| 1954 | Jaaye to jaaye kahan | Taxi Driver (Dev Anand) |
| 1956 | Lagi re yeh kaisi | Devdas (Dilip Kumar) |
| 1957 | Humse Na Aaya Gaya | Dekh Kabira Roya (Anup Kumar) |
| 1959 | Jalte hain jiske liye | Sujata (Sunil Dutt) |
| 1964 | Phir wohi shaam | Jahan Ara (Bharat Bhushan) |
Talat followed Arzoo with a series of deeply romantic hit songs (Milte hi aankhen and Mera jeevan saathi) in Babul, a blockbuster released later in the year. His voice retained subtle, velvety even when faced with Shamshad Begum's powerful, firing-on-all-cylinders voice. What is more it registered an impact. Matters didn't work out with Naushad thereafter and Talat lost out on the chance to sing with him. Even their late 1960s rapprochement with Aadmi (1968) didn't prove very fortuitous.
After Arzoo and Babul, Talat was recognised as the voice of Dilip Kumar leading to some heart-stoppingly beautiful collaborations in Taraana, Daag, Sangdil, Shikast, Footpath, Devdas. He was flooded with work.
The first half of the 1950s was the busiest period in Talat's life.
Leading composer of the time rushed to capitalise on that special romantic kashish so crystal clear in Talat's voice. Shanker-Jaikishan utilised his voice effectively in the gloom-and-doom numbers of Daag and Patita (Aye mere dil kahin aur chal, Andhe jahan ke andhe raaste) while C Ramchandra made Talat render an exquisite ghazal for Parchhain, Mohabbat hi jo na samjhe, woh zaalim pyar kya jaane.
Even the notoriously demanding Sajjad Hussain was a frequent subscriber to Talat's vocals and their team resulted in the perennial classic Yeh hawa yeh raat yeh chandni. S D Burman utilised Talat as a specialty voice and used him sparingly but to maximum effect in films like Taxi Driver where Talat sang just one song but the most popular Jaayen to jaaye kahan, Devdas and Sujata.
Like his contemporary Mukesh, Talat was bitten by the acting bug. Talat was dazzled when major filmmakers like Kardar (1953's Dil-e-Nadaan) and Sohrab Modi (1954's Waris) offered him roles. Kardar even held a contest before choosing Peace Kanwal as his heroine in Dil-e-Nadaan. But the soft-spoken, unassuming Talat's acting career remained, at best, unspectacular.
Between 1953 and 1958, he played the hero in seven other films -- Dak Babu, Raftaar, Diwali Ki Raat, Ek Gaon Ki Kahani, Lala Rukh, Maalik and Sone Ki Chidiya. Popular heroines like Suraiya, Nadira, Mala Sinha and Nutan were cast opposite him and in Sone Ki Chidiya, he left some impact as Nutan's feckless lover.
At the end of the decade, Talat reverted full time
| More golden stuff! | ||
| Song | Film | Co-Singer |
| Duniya badal gayi | Babul | Shamshad |
| Seene mein sulgate hain | Taraana | Lata Mangeshkar |
| Aaja aaj tera intezar hai | Sazaa | Lata |
| Dil mein sama gaye sajan | Sangdil | Lata |
| Jab jab phool khile | Shikast | Lata |
| Dil e nadan tujhe | Mirza Ghalib | Suraiya |
| Rahi matwale | Waris | Suraiya |
| Chali kaunse des bijuriya | Boot Polish | Asha Bhosle |
| Sach bata tu mujhpe fida | Sone Ki Chidiya | Asha |
| O dildar bole ek baar | School Master | Lata |
| Itna na mujhse tu pyar jata | Chhaya | Lata |
| Aye sanam aaj yeh kasam khaye | Jahan Ara | Lata |
The sixties were in many ways a harsher decade cinematically. Talat's old-world charm looked increasingly out of place. Old friend Madan Mohan (their teaming went back to the memorable Meri yaad main tum na aansoo bahana in the early 1950s) gave Talat one last hurrah with Jahan Ara which sparkled with Talat beauties like Teri aankh ke aansoo pi jaoon, Main teri nazar ka suroor hoon and Phir wohi shaam.
Talat still sang straight from the soul but he couldn't adopt to changing trends in Hindi cinema. Thereafter, Talat sang only for the odd, little-known film while he concentrated on private albums and on concerts held repeatedly in the US and all over the world.
Talat Mehmood passed away after a cardiac arrest in 1998. Born February 24, Talat would have been 79 had he been alive.
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